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XLED Malicious software steals data using router lights

Jun

7

2017

team working at the Ben-Gurion University’s Cyber ​​Security Research Center managed to create malicious software called xLED . The team previously used LED lights on a hard disk and an unmanned aerial vehicle to obtain data, but targeting routers and switches allowed them to capture larger data Much as there are many lights in them.

Malware comes in many forms, but malware called xLED is one of the most unusual and recent forms of malware that has so far been able to infect a router or switch and then steal data by flashing the LED Always get into these devices.

The xLED malware attempts to steal data by infecting the target of a router or switching the software first. Once installed, it can steal data by converting the data into a binary encoding format consisting of zeros and ones, so that each light The device has a binary number that lights up at one and turns off at zero.

The attacker needs a camera to record data. This camera can be installed on an unmanned aerial vehicle and made to follow the device through the window or by bribing a security guard to install such a camera to record data within a company or government department or use a pre-installed security camera , Where settings and status can be trusted.

Optical sensors can also be used for recording, giving better results because these sensors can record the changes that are made to light the routers or switch at a much higher rate than the accuracy of the recorded samples.

The researchers are able to achieve data theft rate of 1000 bits per second per LED light, and the most difficult part to allow the malicious software to work is to be installed on the router or switch in the first place, and may turn this malware to the future of the next methods of theft data.

In the future, manufacturers can think of ways to counteract this as a possible weakness in the network and prevent people from using this method to spread this kind of malware.